One of the hottest topics in the world right now is the use of AI in creative features. Whether writing, drawing, or using it to replicate voices, everyone has an opinion on it, for better or worse. Some of the worst examples are already becoming very clear online and beyond. For example, the Hollywood Writer’s Guild of America strike is partially because studios won’t agree to not use AI in their writer’s rooms. When you head to the art side of things, AI art has been posted everywhere, and in gaming, well, ask the Metal Gear Solid crew.
We mean that literally, as multiple members of the beloved saga have come out and spoken against AI programs mimicking their voices for whatever reason. If you’re curious, certain AI programs can take voice samples from shows, games, etc., and deliver a reasonable replication of those voices for whatever you need. You might have even seen certain videos showcasing this and getting attention online.
But in the eyes of Paul Eiding, who you might know as Colonel Campell from Metal Gear Solid, it’s a literal “slap in the face” if you do something like this:
Many voice actors over the weekend went onto social media in a sign of solidarity to make posts like this. It’s not hard to see why when you see what happened to fellow voice actor Erica Lindbeck.
What happened to her? Well, she discovered that one of the voices she did, Futaba from Persona 5, was being used for a video. Once she discovered this AI-made video, she reported it and asked her fans to do the same, as she didn’t consent to her voice being used like this.
Sounds fair, right? Well, the person who made the video disagreed and rallied against Lindbeck by starting a harassment campaign over a “harmless video” that led to her straight-up deleting her social media pages!
The truth is that this isn’t harmless in the slightest. While the idea of “AI-created things” was a novel idea at best about a year ago, things are escalating quickly, and people are getting affected. Going back to the writer’s strike, after it began, there were reports that studios were considering having AI write full TV and movie scripts, then having human writers come in to just “do rewrites and revisions” to save money. Now we have people making music videos with AI’s replicating voices and taking money from voice actors. It’s a very slippery slope.